Chapter 3; The Raven's Fury

A week went by. In that time, Cecilia and Houki began to hang out with Ichika and Simon a lot more, and it became clear, to Simon at least, that both girls had some kind of affection for the two of them. Although, Ichika was still somehow oblivious to Houki's attempts to get his attention. Simon had also begun to spar with Cecilia in order for them to improve their control over their respective bits, and Houki had begun bringing Ichika along and whipping him back into shape with continuous sword training. After one particularly long session, where Simon and Cecilia had nearly exhausted their bits (the things can only store so much power), they both turned to see Ichika sparring with Houki, who was using a training IS, and noticed he was on the verge of collapse.

"Isn't she pushing him a little hard?" Cecilia asked as she landed on the arena floor. "Actually, I think she's still punishing him." Simon said as he watched the two begin to exchange blows again, although Ichika could barely block them, to say nothing of attacking himself. At this, Cecilia turned to Simon, clearly puzzled. "Punishing him for what? I know he can be dense, but what has the fool done to deserve this?" "Well," Simon began, feeling a bit nervous. This felt too much like ratting the kid out, but Simon had grown to like Cecilia through these training sessions. She clearly wasn't just some stuck-up rich girl as he had first suspected. "They were close friends as children. They went to the same Kendo school, and apparently he protected her from other kids when she was picked on. Clearly, she never forgot any of it, and I'm pretty sure those feelings matured with her." "You mean.." Cecilia began, before her face shifted to a bright red as she thought about that for a moment. "You mean…her and Ichika..?"

Turning to her, he smiled at the change in her demeanor. "What, you jealous?" He teased. "O-Of course not. Are you suggesting that I-" She caught herself before she blundered into admitting her feelings out load, since the boy standing in front of her would probably tease her about it mercilessly for weeks. Instead, she turned back and watched the two swordsman spar. Shaking his head, Simon did the same. After trading another series of blows, Ichika destructed his IS and collapsed on his back, panting. The others followed suit and gathered around the exhausted pilot. "So, she's riding you pretty hard, huh?" Simon asked with a slight grin on his face. Even though he wasn't looking at her, he could practically feel the glare and blush on Houki. Offering his hand to Ichika, he hauled him to his feet and helped him hobble towards the locker room. Arriving at their lockers, Ichika dropped onto one of the benches as Simon went over to the showers with his clothes. When he returned, Ichika was laid out on the bench, asleep. Giving his foot a good kick to wake him up, Simon said, "Hey, you can sleep later. We got homework to finish." This earned a groan as Ichika rolled off the bench and stumbled towards the showers himself.

Deciding it would better to give him some time to gather himself, Simon went outside and waited with the girls. Sitting at one of the benches outside, Simon turned to Houki, deciding now was a good time to address this issue now that Ichika wasn't there. "So, made any real progress? Or is our friend still clueless?" he asked. At this, she stiffened and looked away, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. "I don't know what you mean, Simon." Glancing at Cecilia to see her smiling, he decided to push the issue. "I mean, have you actually gotten through to our bluenette about how you feel, or is he still seeing you as a friend? And don't try to lie, cause I've seen the looks you've given him behind his back." While that was a lie, he doubted he was too far off from the truth. And judging from the hunch in her shoulders and the fact that she was nervously playing with her skirt as a distraction, he clearly had hit the mark.

"H-he hasn't changed much from when I knew him." She began, clearly embarrassed to be discussing this with the two of them. "He clearly doesn't see me as a woman. I'm still just his 'childhood friend.'" They both looked at each other, shocked that Houki would open up like that, and with something that personal. Cecilia just walked over to her and placed her hand on Houki's shoulder for comfort. Simon, meanwhile, was pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes squeezed closed and trying desperately to keep his own temper in check. How that guy could be so damned oblivious was beyond him. But I'll be damned if I let one of my friends suffer like this he thought. As Ichika walked up and they made their way back to the dorms, Simon decided that he was going to start working on this from his end and give the bone-head some gentle nudges to get him started in the right direction. Then again, considering how he can be, I might need a cattle prod to make this work he realized as they parted at the elevator.

When Ichika and Simon arrived at their room, there was a small girl waiting outside their door for them. Her brown hair was done up in twin pony tails and her uniform had been modified so the shoulders were missing. Hearing the two of them approach, she turned and pointed at Ichika. "So, this is where you've been hiding, Ichika!" "Rin! I didn't know you were at the Academy, too." Ichika said, walking up to the girl. As Simon came up behind him, she noticed him for the first time. "So, who's the other guy?" Rude little twerp he thought, although he was careful not to say it out load. Simon had heard plenty of horror stories about tsunderes, and if she wasn't one, then he would eat his shoe. "This is Simon, an IS pilot from America. Simon, this is another old friend of mine, Lingyin Huang." "Wait, you called her Rin, didn't you?" Simon asked. This received a swift kick to his shin, which caused him to jump back.

"Ow! What the heck did I do!?" He demanded. Glaring at him, she crossed her arms and shot back, "You don't get to call be Rin when we've only just met, idiot." "You're just gonna start throwing insults after just meeting someone?" Simon exclaimed, feeling his own temper starting to rise to the surface. "Ha! I know how you Americans are. Don't think that just because you're an IS pilot that your special, little boy." That's it he thought. Preparing himself for another blow, he shot back, "Well, I don't go around insulting people I just met, small fry. So how about trying this again?" That clearly hit a nerve, because right after the words left his mouth, the girl launched another blow at him. This one was augmented by the right arm of an IS materializing around her own arm. Simon ducked to his left, barely avoiding the punch. What he didn't dodge was the follow-up kick to his stomach. Staggering back a couple steps, he readied himself for the next attack while Lingyin (Rin?) glared at him and clenched her first again, clearly pissed that the 'little boy' was still standing. Thankfully, he was saved when Ichika stepped between them.

"Hey! You two can't fight here, someone might get hurt!" He said, all stern seriousness. "Yeah, and it's gonna be that idiot next to you." Rin promised as she squared up with him again. "I wouldn't be too sure, pipsqueak." Simon shot back as he turned to have his left side face her, bringing his hands up with fists clenched. The probable destruction of the entire floor was averted when a textbook smacked into Rin's head, a textbook held by none other than Chifuyu herself. "Causing trouble again, Miss Huang?" She asked, her stern expression daring the girl to try something. "N-no, I was just saying hi to Ichika. I'll be leaving now, mam." She said quickly before shooting off. That matter taken care of, Chifuyu turned her gaze onto Ichika and Simon. "And just what are you two doing?" "Nothing, mam!" They both said before escaping into their room. Both boys had learned by the second day to NOT piss Chifuyu off.

The next day, they learned that an inter-class tournament was being held that weekend, and that as the class rep, Ichika would be taking part. Huh Simon thought, I wondered how long it would take for the class rep thing to bite him in the ass. After being dismissed for lunch, they noticed a board in the hallway announcing the matches. Stopping to find Ichika's name, Simon suddenly started laughing to himself. "What's so funny?" Cecilia asked as she walked up to see what he was looking at. Unable to speak, he just pointed at the first match. "Who's 'Lingyin Huang?'" "Wait, what?!" Ichika shouted as he rushed over to the board. Looking at the pairings quickly, he then smacked his head into the wall, looking absolutely miserable. Houki, meanwhile, was standing behind them, completely lost. "What is it?" She finally asked.

After catching his breath, Simon turned around and told her. "The bone-head's first match is with little Rin. He gets to fight his old friend right off the bat!" Turning to Ichika, who still looked depressed at the notion of fighting an old friend, he patted him on the back. "Hey, cheer up, man. The squirt probably won't be able to put up much of a fight, class rep or not." That statement was punctuated by a pen case flying out of nowhere and smacking Simon in the head, sending him stumbling back a few steps. "Ow! The fuck did this come from?" He asked, holding the case up. "Stop calling me small, idiot!" He heard right before he was forced to dodge a flying kick to the head. Okay, that is definitely Rin.

Looking at the fuming girl, he wondered just how she had made it into the academy in the first place. Her temper was shorter than his. Once again, any destruction that would have been caused by these two fighting was interrupted by Ichika. "So, it looks like I'm fighting you first, Rin." Ichika said, moving in between them to stop her charging again. "So, are you using one of the academy's or do you have your own IS?" With a huff she turned to Ichika, deciding the American idiot wasn't worth the effort quite yet. "Yes, I have my own. I couldn't be China's Representative if I didn't." "Wait," Simon interrupted, walking up behind Ichika, "You're a national representative?" She nodded, wondering why it would seem so hard to believe. Simon just face-palmed and turned away, mumbling something about how unbelievable this was. At this point, it seemed Houki had just realized something. "Wait, Ichika?" She started, walking over with her hands on her hips, "How do you know this girl?"

Turning to her with a sheepish look, he introduced the two while Cecilia stayed back, wary of the Chinese firecracker in front of her. The introductions quickly turned into a heated debate between the two girls as they both tried to prove they were closer to Ichika than the other, while Ichika slowly backed away, not really following the conversation. He was saved when Simon grabbed him and steered him and Cecilia away from the bickering girls saying, "We should probably let them works this out without us around. Also, lunch isn't going to wait for them." They both nodded and made for the exit. Once they had grabbed their food and sat down, Houki and Rin came storming into the cafeteria, both of them looking a little annoyed at being left behind. Once they found were the others were sitting, their glares landed not on Ichika, as one would expect, but on Simon. Okay, I might be a dead man he thought as Rin stalked up to the table. Houki had long ago accepted that Simon could be sneaky and that Ichika was willing to go along with said sneakiness. She just went to grab food while Rin stood in front of the table, trying to look intimidating.

"And just what exactly do you think you're doing?" She demanded, slamming her hands on the table and glaring daggers straight at Simon. "Uh, I'm eating. This is our lunch hour." He responded, taking a bite from his sandwich and looking to the others for support. And of course, they all looked away. "That's not what I meant, idiot!" She yelled, leaning closer, "Try something like that again, and I will make sure you suffer." Is that a threat? he thought before continuing in the hopes of avoiding a pointless feud. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that? Try and keep in mind that if you fight me before the tournament, you will be showing everyone what you're capable of." He explained, hopping reason would help end this peacefully. Hearing this, Rin stood up and bit her lip, clearly torn between putting the American in his place and losing a major advantage. By this point, Houki had joined them at the table, although she was making a point to not look at Simon. "Fine, you got out of this one. But piss me off again, and I will put you in your place, idiot." Rin said as she stalked away.

"I really wish she would stop calling me idiot." He said, turning back to the others, who were all laughing to themselves. "What? You think this is funny? That pipsqueak kicks hard!" He exclaimed, sending Ichika and the girls into more laughter.

The week passed quickly, with several more 'incidences' between Rin and Simon. Any hope he had of not having to fight her after the tournament had been crushed in that time, as well as a table and a door. As Saturday rolled around, Ichika and Simon were in the locker room, preparing Ichika for his fight with Rin. Ichika looked a little excited to be fighting her, but also a little depressed. "Come on, man, it's just a friendly competition. She's not going to hate you forever once you beat her." Simon said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm more concerned with how much frustration she's going to take out on me," Ichika replied, "I mean, it's almost like you two are at war." Patting him on the back, Simon just smiled and walked to the exit. "Just remember, Ichika, the honor of classroom 1-1 is riding on this." He said as motivation. After joining Cecilia and Houki in the front row seats they had staked out, Simon noticed a worried look on Houki's face.

"Worried about your man?" Simon asked, ignoring the indignant glare she gave him. Although she didn't respond, neither Simon nor Cecilia expected her to. Rin was the first to enter the stadium. Her IS was a dark red and black color, and was less flashy than Cecilia's and Ichika's, clearly going for efficiency rather than looks. Her 'wings' were more two balls with stubby spines on the bottom, and she also carried a rather large sword, a scimitar. There's no way a Representative is going to go all melee Simon thought as Ichika flew into the arena. After a quick exchange, in which Rin promised to punish Ichika for not keeping Simon in check, the match began and the two pilots immediately rushed at each other, trading blows with their respective swords. Ichika's training with Houki seemed to be paying off as he slowly drove back Rin. That is, until in a flash of light there was a second scimitar in her left hand. With two swords, she began to attack faster, driving Ichika onto the defensive. After a particularly nasty blow that he couldn't block, he decided to try and get some distance to think over a new plan.

"Big mistake, Ichika!" Rin shouted as one of her wings flashed briefly. Next thing they know, Ichika was spiraling into the wall like he'd just been shot. "What the heck just hit him?!" Houki demanded, looking just as shocked as the other two. "No way, she uses Shock cannons?" Simon asked, unable to believe she would use such a weapon on a melee IS. "She's using what?" demanded Houki, turning to him. "They're called Shock cannons. Basically, it's a gun that compresses the air into slugs before firing them. It's a line-of-sight weapon with a short effective range, but the barrel is made out of the air, so dodging it is pretty much impossible at close range." He told her, watching the battle closely as Rin cut loose with both cannons, digging several craters in the ground and causing the shields protecting the stadium seats to flare. She managed to get a few good hits in, but Ichika was staying just outside of their effective range. "Well, at least he's keeping his distance." Houki said, trying to find some small hope.

"It won't help him," Cecilia said, "He doesn't have any long-range weapons. Like this, Rin can just draw the battle out and whittle his shields down. And if he tries to get closer, if those cannons don't do him in, then Rin's swords will." Simon just nodded in agreement, unable to come up with any way of winning. "B-but, he still has his one-off ability!" Houki said, clutching her hands together. "True, but that also drains his shields to power it. Unless that bone-head does something to turn the tide soon, this fight is over." Simon said. While this just received a glare from Houki, he wasn't prepared to lie to her just to make a bad situation seem better. Ichika did try something, though, triggering his Ignition Burst and closing on Rin before she could adjust her fire. Locking swords again, it seemed to be a stand-off, with neither side showing any signs of breaking away.

Just as the battle was about to kick off again, something came crashing into the stadium, breaking through the barrier and slamming right into the middle of the arena. "What the he-?" Simon began, sitting up, but was cut off when alarms started to blare and the emergency shutters over the seats slammed down. Looking around in confusion, they heard a message over the load speakers for all students to evacuate the area immediately. "But, Ichika is in there!" Houki said, walking up to the metal wall. Feeling absolutely helpless, Simon grabbed her arm and dragged her to the nearest exit while Cecilia followed. "You two, find Chifuyu in the control room and figure out what's going on." He said, before rushing back out into the stands. "What?! What about you? Simon!" yelled Cecilia, but he was too far to turn back. Damnit, what the hell is going on? What could have the force to break through that shield? He wondered as he stopped in front of one of the shutters and summoned his IS. Grasping the handle of his sword, he disengaged the magnetic clamp holding it, powered the blade up and made three quick slashes through the barrier in a rough triangle. As the metal fell away, a video transmission came in from the command room. "Felix, what the hell are you doing?" Chifuyu yelled, looking very pissed off at his actions. Trying to maintain his determination, he looked her square in the eye and said, "Helping a friend." Before closing the connection and rocketing into the arena. What he saw was surprising to say the least.

It looked like an IS, but it looked more like some kind of grotesque ogre; it had no wings, six (eight?) eyes and massive forearms. Said massive arms were busy sending Ichika flying into the far wall as Rin came up behind it, prepared to slash into its back. One of the eyes on the back of its head swiveled to focus on her before its left arm swung out, backhanding her into the ground. As she struggled to get back up, it loomed over her with its hands clasped above its head. Before the unknown IS could pummel her into mush, a blue-green projectile smashed into it from the side, taking it across the stadium grounds. Looking over to where the Ogre landed, she saw Simon's IS hovering between it and her. A communication window popping up suddenly startled her back into reality, even though the voice on the other end still pissed her off. "You two still breathing over there?" Simon asked, raising his shield in a defensive stance should the Ogre try anything. "I'm doing alright, but my shields are at 23%." Ichika said, landing next to Rin and looking a little out of breathe. "I-I'm fine, too. And who asked you to interfere, idiot?" She stammered, finally getting back on her feet. "Because I'm totally going to let some freak-show of an IS beat you into a pulp." Simon said, causing Rin to blush slightly. Didn't think he really cared she thought. "Besides, if anyone's going to put you in your place, it's going to be me." He continued. And there's the annoying attitude she amended as she felt her temper flare again.

The Ogre, meanwhile, had righted itself and was looking at Simon, its many eyes expanding and contracting like it was scanning him. Turning his attention to the over-sized IS, Simon said, "Well, you going to stand there all day, or are we gonna do this? Come on, ugly, let's go!" He suddenly charged at the IS, using his own Ignition Burst and taking a swipe at its left arm as the Ogre brought it up to ward him off. Simon's blade struck the arm just above the wrist, biting into the metal and making a sizable slash through it. He was momentarily stunned by this, so much so he didn't see its right fist until it had connected with his unprotected side, throwing him into a spin. As Simon righted himself, he saw the Ogre raising its right arm with its hand wide open, revealing a gun barrel in its palm. Letting lose with a particle beam, it tried to shoot him down, only to have Simon dodge the blast before landing next to the other two IS pilots, who had still not gotten over the fact he had damaged that thing. "So," Simon began, trying to keep his voice from shaking, "Anyone have any clue why that thing didn't have a shield? I thought it was an IS?" "So did I." Ichika said, clearly trying to work out what he had just seen. Any further guesses were cut off when Chifuyu opened a com link to all three of them.

"Obviously, that thing doesn't have a pilot." She stated matter-of-factly. "Wait, IS always have pilots. So, how is that thing unmanned?" Rin said. "The only conclusion we can come to is that it's some kind of drone weapon. We're trying to see if we can trace its origin now. The three of you need to get out of there, the staff with subdue it." Chifuyu said, all calm seriousness. "Okay, then where are the teachers?" Simon asked, motioning to the still empty field. "There's a problem with the automatic lock-down. All the shutters are still closed, and we can't yet open them." Maya told them from off screen. Looking over at Ichika and Rin, they briefly shared a moment of telepathy and reached a shared agreement. Turning back to the screen in front of him, Simon said, "Then we're staying to buy them some time." "What? I said get out of th-" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as the three cut the transmission. In the control room, Chifuyu slammed her fist into the console in frustration. Those idiots had better live through this she thought as she turned to Maya, hoping her assistant could regain control of the system.

In the stadium, the three IS pilots had once again squared up against the Ogre. As they prepared to charge it, they heard a burst of static from it before a computer voice spoke to them. "Ci vediamo dall'altra parte." While Ichika and Rin didn't have a clue what it was saying, Simon's hands immediately went limp, his arms dropping to his sides. Turning to him, they saw the look of absolute shock on his face. "H-how do you know that?" He asked, and received a blow to the stomach as the Ogre suddenly accelerated into him, carrying him away from the other two pilots. "Simon!" Ichika yelled as he flew after them, only to be forced back as the Ogre turned it's particle cannon on him, firing shot after shot towards him and Rin. Struggling back onto his feet, Simon felt something well up inside him that he hadn't felt in a long time. Taking a few seconds to decide on his course of action, he called up Ichika and Rin.

"You two, leave this thing to me." He said as he replaced his sword in it's sheath down his back. "You gotta be kidding. Even you aren't that stupid!" Rin said as she dodged another beam. "I mean it," Simon continued, "I don't want either of you caught up in this attack." The seriousness in his voice was enough to convince Ichika as he backed away. Rin just gritted her teeth and held her position above it, though she didn't advance. In the control room, Chifuyu, May, Cecilia and Houki watched on the main monitor as Simon faced off with the Ogre alone. Turning his attention fully to it, Simon decided ah, the hell with it, time to cut loose. "I don't know what you are, or who built you, but you just crossed a line you really shouldn't have, ugly." Widening his stance, he unfolded his wings, revealing golden feather with black trim.

"Now, you die by inches." He said, the look in his eyes enough to make Ichika and Rin stay well back. Gesturing at the Ogre, he commanded, "Fangs, fly!" The four fangs on his hips detached and took off towards the Ogre, as did six of his feathers, three from each wing. In total, there were now ten fangs sporting energy blades circling around the Ogre, slowly tearing pieces out of it. During this, Simon just stood there, watching as his opponent was taken apart, looking pissed off to high hell. Pieces of its armor and systems just rained onto the ground around it as the fangs avoided hitting anything vital. Then, two fangs converged from opposite directions, severing its left arm at the shoulder, while a third slashed through it's right knee, causing it to fall to the ground. Even then, Simon's fangs continued their onslaught, tearing armor away from it's back and slashing through the eyes of the back of its head. Finally, as if he had grown bored with it, he waved his hand and sent three fangs into its neck, severing the things head and effectively killing it.

With another gesture, the fangs returned to Simon's IS and docked again. Without a word to anyone, and blocking all incoming calls, Simon turned and walked towards the now opening shutters, destructing his IS. Rin and Ichika just looked at each other, clearly troubled at the way he had lost control over a simple phrase, even though they had no clue what it meant. Houki and Cecilia were also very disturbed by the look they had gotten at their friend's darker side. Although she probably wouldn't admit it, Cecilia was more worried than most of them. What could have cause that behavior in my Simon? She wondered as she walked out of the control room.

And there's another chapter down. Tried to make this one longer and include more material. So, anyone else shiver at the darker side of our OC? Just a taste of what's lurking under the surface for Simon. I promise to reveal more in later chapters, but don't expect it all on a silver platter.

As always, feel free to review and follow if you enjoy this story.